


Getting Sober

by AlexTheShipper



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Past Drug Addiction, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Sobriety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-15 19:26:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18079490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexTheShipper/pseuds/AlexTheShipper
Summary: Klaus does not do things by half, so when he decides to get sober he needs to make sure temptation stays out of the picture even if that means emptying dad's fancy bar down the drain.





	1. Down the Drain

Klaus had never been one for half assed decisions. He decided to get high to keep the ghosts away, he stayed high for more than a decade. He decided to move out, he left the house with everything he could carry and never looked back. So now, he had made the decision to get sober, which meant no drugs. Luther caught him pouring the last of his personal stash down the toilet, but that still left the bar.

Was the bar part of Klaus’ stash? No. Was that going to stop him from pouring every single drop of alcohol in the house out? Also no. If he wanted to get sober then he needed to remove temptation.

“The others aren’t going to like this.” Ben points out, Klaus shushes him before flicking the lights on. It’s 4am so they should all be asleep. “I’m just saying.” Ben puts his hands up before hopping up on the bar.

“You’re the one who wants me to get sober.” Klaus hisses, going for the cheapest crap first and starting the arduous process of pouring it all down the drain. “This hurts me, perfectly good alcohol going to waste. It pains my soul Ben.”

“Yeah, yeah hop to dude, you only have so long before the others wake up.” Ben informs him, kicking his feet idly.

“You could help.” Klaus grumbles, pulling as many bottles as he can into his arms, and clumsily stumbling towards the sink.

“I really can’t.” Ben points out, which is fair enough really, so Klaus just shrugs, struggling with the lid on one of Dad’s fancier bottles. The metal stopper is cold against his hand combating the burning desire to just have a little sip that’s taken up residence in his chest.

“Ben.” He says, and his voice wavers a little bit.

“I will figure out how to slap you again.” Ben threatens, because Ben always knows exactly what to say. Klaus is silent for a moment watching the bottle of beautiful beautiful whiskey disappear down the drain, before moving on to the next one.

“Hey Ben.” He glances over at the ghost of his brother. “Thanks.” Ben just shrugs, offering a small smile and they lapse back into silence.

Until Klaus winds up struggling with a bottle, he cannot for the life of him get open.

“Help.” He grumbles, pulling at the lid with all of his might.

“Still physically can’t.” Ben points out, and it’s still true so Klaus can’t really argue with him.

“Ugh, fine. A little broken glass never hurt anybody.” He mumbles, raising the bottle up over his head.

“That is literally not true!” Ben shouts, but it’s too late. Klaus slams the bottle into the counter spilling bourbon and shards of glass everywhere.

“I don’t have shoes.” Klaus grumbles, leaning down to pick shards of glass off the tops of his feet just as a knife flies past where his head had just been.

“Diego.” Ben grumbles, wandering over to poke at the knife in the wall. Klaus straightens up, careful to keep his feet in place.

“Diego! Brother-o-mine! How are things?” Klaus asks, shooting his best approximation of a drunken smile at the other man. He’s never really had to fake drunk before, but since none of them believe him anyways he might as well play the part.  

“What are you doing Klaus? I thought you were getting sober.” Diego says, sliding a knife back into his pocket.

“What am I doing? You threw a knife at me!” Klaus puts on his shrillest voice, holding a hand to his chest. “And I am getting sober, just need to get rid of temptation.” He grumbles.

“You’re doing great Klaus!” Ben calls out, climbing back onto the bar.

“What happened here then?” Diego gestures to the broken glass at his feet and the bourbon spilling over the counter and onto the floor.

“It wouldn’t open!” Klaus pouts, the desire to stomp his foot for dramatic effect is strong, but he doesn’t want to risk his feet getting sliced up. That one time on south street was enough.

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Diego says, and of course he’s wearing boots. “Mom will clean this up in the morning.” He grabs Klaus off his feet easily enough considering Klaus weighs next to nothing, and set’s him down outside the radius of broken glass.

“I’m not done though, there’s like 4 bottles left, at least.” Klaus says, moving to go back to the sink. Ben shakes his head.

“He’s not going to let you walk on that.” Ben points out, and he’s right because Diego is shoving him backward.

“Dude, I’m not gonna let you hurt yourself. Where are the last few bottles I’ll dump them out.” Diego offers, and Klaus blinks at him in surprise. “What? I want you to get sober I can deal with an alcohol-free house.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Klaus attempts to shrug it off. “There’s two still in that cabinet, and I think there might be some under the sink.”

“Five is not gonna like this.” Diego mumbles, as the glass crunches beneath his shoes.

“Five can deal.” Ben says, before Klaus can start feeling guilty. It’s too late anyway Diego makes quick work of the last few bottles, and then that crunching sound is back as he makes his way over to Klaus.

“There’s a bottle in the old man’s office, did you get it?” Diego asks, and Klaus wasn’t really expecting this level of support, not at all. He also was hoping everyone would forget about that bottle, a part of him convinced he might need it.

“No, I forgot about it.” Klaus lied. Diego patted him on the shoulder, steering him out of the room and walking briskly enough that Ben had to rush to catch up.

“Don’t even worry about it, I’ll take care of it.” Diego says, shoving him towards his bedroom. “Now get some goddamn sleep Klaus it’s 5 o’clock in the morning.” Klaus offers a salute that isn’t nearly as clumsy as he meant it to be and then wanders off towards his bedroom.

“He’s a good brother.” Ben comments, smiling after Diego. Klaus nods absently.

“Goodnight Ben.”

“Goodnight Klaus.”  Ben smirks the room beginning to light up as the sun rises. "You know all that alcohol was probably worth thousands of dollars right?" 

"It what?!" 


	2. Family Meeting

 

“Family meeting!” Five shouts, shocking Klaus awake and onto the floor. There’s a pop and when Klaus looks up Five is gone, he can still here the muffled sound of yelling, and then a crash as something get’s thrown.

“You should probably go to that.” Ben points out when Klaus makes no move to get up.

“Ugh.” Klaus groans, the floor is definitely not comfortable, but the bed is really far, and the living room is even further. “I think I’ll just stay here.” He reaches over piling some blanket over his head. “Just a few more minutes.”

“Klaus.” Ben says, but he sounds more fond then exasperated, so Klaus just grumbles and cuddles into his blanket.

“Klaus! Meeting! Now!” Five demands, appearing besides Ben. Klaus groans loudly at him in protest, Five reaches over and yanks the blanket out from under him. “Meeting.” Five orders, “Now.”

“Sleep now.” Klaus answers, trying to retrieve his blanket. Ben snorts a laugh as Five holds the blanket up. Klaus opens one eye, and glances up at a furious looking Five. “If you think I can’t sleep on the floor without a blanket you are dead wrong my brother.” There’s a soft pop and the world blurs for a moment.

“It is meeting time.” Five says. “Sit.” He gestures to the couch and Klaus blinks up at the living room, Luther is giving him a disapproving look but everyone else seems mostly amused.

“I told you, it’s sleep time.” Klaus says, making grabby hands at the blanket on the back of the couch. Diego goes to hand it to him before Five yanks it out of his hands.

“There is a crisis.” Five states, and get’s Luther’s full attention. “Last night someone emptied out the bar.” He gestures wildly towards the bar. “The culprit must be punished.”

“Oh, that explains his behavior.” Ben says from where he’s looking over Five’s shoulder. “Someone didn’t get their juice this morning.” Klaus snorts a laugh, causing Five to whirl on him.

“I thought you would be the most concerned about this Klaus, I just told you there’s no Alcohol in the house.” Five says this as if it’s the worst thing on the planet, and before Klaus can open his mouth and most likely get himself into trouble, Luther speaks.

“I’d hardly call this a crisis.” He comments, and the disapproving look has been shifted from Klaus to Five. “There was no need for a family meeting.” Five looks absolutely furious at that.

“No need for a family meeting? Luther there isn’t a drop of alcohol in this entire house.” Five says, and everyone blinks at him. Ben is sniggering softly, and Klaus can’t help a little giggle. “Why on earth are you laughing Klaus?”

“Because I-“ He stops when Ben starts shaking his head in warning. “Because I know who the culprit is.” He says, and Five is abruptly right in front of him grabbing onto his shirt.

“Who? Who got rid of my alcohol?” Five asks, and the desperation in his eyes is almost too familiar for comfort. Klaus wastes no time in pointing at Diego.

“I saw Diego pour out the last of the alcohol last night, even said he was going to get Dad’s stuff from his office.” Klaus rushes to say, Five disappears and it takes a second for his eyes to refocus on Five standing on top of the couch glaring down at Diego.

“You know he’s going to tell on you now, right?” Ben points out, and Klaus is about to say that Diego would never do that when Diego opens his big mouth.

“I found Klaus barefoot in the bar pouring alcohol down the drain surrounded by broken glass, I only finished the job so he wouldn’t slice his feet open.” Diego defends, and then there is the weight of a thirteen-year-old body standing on Klaus’ sternum.

“You rat!” Klaus hisses at Diego.  Five pushes down with his foot. “Ow, dude.” Klaus shoves the foot off his chest momentarily unbalancing Five.

“You ratted first.” Diego says, and Klaus just sticks his tongue out in response.

“Why?” Five asks. Ben gives him a thumbs up.

“I told you all, I’m getting sober, no more drugs, no more alcohol.” Klaus explains, “Part of that is removing temptation.” He shrugs, not really willing to meet anyone’s eyes.

“We’re proud of you.” He hears, and is surprised when it’s Vanya smiling at him rather than Ben offering encouragement. The others glance at her and she hesitates, shying away from Luther’s cold look. “At least, I’m proud of you Klaus.” Allison places a hand on her arm encouragingly, and nods at him.

“I’m glad your finally getting clean.” Luther says, which isn’t the most complimentary statement, but with Luther it’s better than Klaus expected.

“I’m super proud of you dumbass.” Diego offers. Five stomps a foot in frustration shooting all of them a glare. Luckily both feet were firmly on the floor because Klaus didn’t like being stepped on very much, stomped on seemed much worse.

“I’m proud of you too.” Five grumbles, shuffling uncomfortably. “I still want alcohol though.” Klaus can understand that. Vanya tosses her keys at him.

“There’s wine in my apartment.” She says, and just like that Five is gone.

“I told you they’d be proud of you.” Ben says, a little too smugly. Klaus squints at him.

“Don’t you ‘I told you so’ me. I wouldn’t exactly call Luther proud anyways.” Klaus says, but he’s still smiling at Vanya and Allison.

“What?” Luther asks.

“He is, he’s just an asshole.” Ben says, Klaus snorts a laugh, pulling himself to his feet.

“Oh definitely, acts like he’s above me when he went looking for drugs the moment things got rough.” Klaus clucks his tongue disapprovingly.

“Hey!” Luther shouts, relatively certain Klaus is talking about him.

“Yes, brother dear?” Klaus asks. There’s an awkward pause where everything seems to hang in the air.

“I am proud of you Klaus.” Luther grits out, and it’s almost an apology.

“Great, good. This was fun. Is there breakfast?” Klaus asks, Luther rolls his eyes, and heads for the door.

“It’s 2 in the afternoon Klaus.” Diego pats his shoulder as he passes by and the girls follow him out.

“So, does that mean no breakfast?” He calls after them.

“Mom will make you something.” Ben points out. Klaus still can’t get the smile off his face, heading for the kitchen

“Oh yeah. It’s nice, having food available.”


End file.
